Intracardiac and intravascular procedures, commonly involve the use of an introducer sheath. The introducer sheath facilitates insertion of one or more medical devices, such as ablation catheters, mapping catheters, transseptal puncture devices, and the like, and their navigation through the patient's vasculature. An introducer sheath typically includes a hemostasis valve, which may be used to prevent the backflow of blood out of the introducer sheath during insertion of the medical devices into the sheath.
An introducer sheath may be attached to a hemostasis valve by inserting a proximal end of the sheath into a hemostasis valve hub and bonding the sheath and hub together. Thus, the hemostasis valve hub encloses the proximal end of the introducer sheath and therefore closes off any lumens within the sheath. In the case of steerable introducer sheaths, the sheath wall may include a skive hole that provides an exit from the sheath for each pull wire. As shown in FIG. 1, a currently known introducer sheath 10 may include a proximal portion 12 that is coupled to a hemostasis valve hub 14. Further, the proximal portion of the pull wire 16 may exit the sheath through a skive hole 18 and, once outside the sheath 10, may be connected to one or more steering elements and/or directly manipulated by an operator to navigate the sheath (not shown).
However, sheaths having skive holes 18 frequently develop leaks, and this may be due to the manner in which the pull wire 16 exits the sheath 10 and/or the mechanical means by which the skive holes 18 are created.
It is therefore desirable to provide a steerable introducer sheath having a hemostasis valve hub that eliminates the need for skive holes.